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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5O-04516

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the regional economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Question reference: S5O-04499

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action Police Scotland is taking in response to littering in popular visitor areas over the summer.

Question reference: S5W-29831

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 24 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the decision of the Supreme Court in the case, Cardtronics UK Ltd and others v Sykes and others (Valuation Officers) [2020] UKSC 21, in relation to the application of non-domestic rates in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-29178

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils who would normally access children's services have not been in contact with either any of its agencies' or the local authority since schools were closed due to COVID-19.

Following an agreement led by SOLACE, local partnerships are providing weekly data to the Scottish Government on what is happening locally across children’s services partnerships during the current pandemic crisis. This dataset includes information about how many children with multi-agency plans have been contacted by a professional in health, education, social work or third sector services in the last week.

In the most recent data returned, all 32 local authorities provided this information, reporting that there had been contact, in the last week, with 29,782 children which is 71% of the total number of children reported to have a multi-agency plan. It is not possible to report whether any of the children with a multi-agency plan have had no contact with services since schools closed.

Further information about the data from local partnerships and other available intelligence relating to vulnerable children and young people is detailed in the reports published on the Scottish Government website in April and May:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/supporting-vulnerable-children-young-people-data-intelligence-report/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/vulnerable-children-report-15-2020-scottish-government-solace/

Question reference: S5O-04409

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what conditions are placed on the use of mobile phones that have been allocated to prisoners during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Question reference: S5W-29182

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the impact of home learning on pupils’ mental health.

We continue to monitor a range of evidence to help to inform our approach. This includes ongoing monitoring of the young person surveys conducted by Young Scot and the Children’s Parliament, both of which have addressed the theme of young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

In recognition of the central role of pupils’ mental health the Strategic Framework for Reopening Schools, Early Learning and Childcare Provision in Scotland states that authorities should protect “the physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of children and young people”.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/excellent-equity-during-covid-19-pandemic-strategic-framework-reopening-schools-early-learning-childcare-provision-scotland/

We have provided £105,000 to support Young Scot to develop enhanced digital content and resources on mental health and wellbeing. This will be updated based on what young people tell us they need.

The government will continue to work with young people organisations to draw on evidence from their surveys of children and young people in relation both to learning-related issues and wider issues.

Question reference: S5W-29175

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to local authorities to provide training for teachers on remote learning platforms since schools were closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Education Scotland, the national improvement agency for education, is providing a range of additional resources to support parents and practitioners with providing learning at home, and to deliver continuity for learners across Scotland.

To support teachers in particular, Education Scotland has organised and run a series of webinars which have covered topics such as digital literacy skills, evidencing learning using ipads, and getting the most out of Glow.

These webinars remain available for practitioners to view and a further 9 webinars have been scheduled which will look at numeracy and mathematics through computing science; the use of g-suite collaboration tools within Glow and other topics to assist educators across Scotland.

Education Scotland also published Learning and Teaching online: Advice for practitioners on the 12 May.

Question reference: S5W-29171

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the number or proportion of school pupils in each local authority area in each month since February who have not had access to remote learning resources due to a lack of a suitable internet connection or IT equipment.

Local authorities are responsible for monitoring education provision, including where there are barriers to accessing that provision.

We recognise that digital exclusion is an issue for some learners in Scotland and have undertaken exploratory work with local authorities through SOLACE, ADES and Cosla to understand the scale of the issue. Subsequently, we have committed to investing £30m to help ensure that learners without access to the internet or devices are catered for ahead of the 20-21 academic year and we are working closely with local authorities to take that forward.

Question reference: S5W-29176

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the disparity of access to education resources such as IT equipment between households due to socioeconomic factors, what steps it is taking to ensure that the attainment gap is not exacerbated during the period of school closures.

Closing the poverty related attainment gap is the defining mission of this government, with equity remaining a key principle of the strategic framework on re-opening of schools and early learning and childcare centres which was published on 21 May.

That is why we are continuing with our commitment to invest £182 million from the Attainment Scotland Fund in 2020/21, including Pupil Equity Funding. For the first time, Pupil Equity Fund allocations have been confirmed for two years, with over £250 million committed to schools across 2020/21 and 2021/22. This will help to provide more certainty for head teachers and aid learning during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. This Pupil Equity Funding will benefit 97% of schools across every local authority in Scotland.

Due to the ongoing challenges currently facing schools and local authorities I have relaxed the guidance on Attainment Scotland Funding streams to support Local Authorities in deploying this funding flexibly to best support vulnerable children from the most deprived backgrounds. There are already a number of such examples, including the provision of laptops and/tablets to support digital learning at home, purchase and delivery of books and other learning material to children at home, providing transport to enable some learners to attend LA Hubs, and supporting home-school link workers to maintain regular contact with children.

We recognise that digital exclusion is a particular issue for some of our most disadvantaged learners. To help ensure as many children and young people as possible are able to connect with their schools, continue their learning, access support and engage with their peers, we are investing an initial £9 million which will provide devices and connectivity for 25,000 learners across Scotland. This is the first phase of our £30 million commitment to support digital inclusion for children and young people, which we are working closely with local authority partners to deliver.

Question reference: S5W-29181

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects remote learning to continue through the scheduled summer break and, if so, what resources it will be allocating to facilitate this.

While the provision of distance learning by schools is a matter for local authorities and individual schools, we have no formal plans that remote learning continues in the summer break. There are, however, a number of home learning initiatives we support (for example, the Deputy First Minister's Maths Challenge), by community learning and development providers, by third sector organisations, and local community organisations that will be available during the summer holidays.

As in previous years, we anticipate that a range of summer learning activities will be promoted to families in the lead up to and during the summer holidays. In addition, Education Scotland's new "Scotland Learns" website, set up to assist with distance learning during Covid-19, hosts a wide range of learn at home materials and resources which parents and carers can access. Our Education Recovery group is considering how learning can best be supported during the summer break.